


You are... gay?

by LittleBlondeChicken



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Deaf Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Get Together, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), a lot of disney is quoted, nobody really comes out cause they live in a world that isnt heteronormative, some adashi, starbucks lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBlondeChicken/pseuds/LittleBlondeChicken
Summary: Keith has been sitting in the Starbucks every Wednesday and Friday staring hopelessly at the guy he calls Hot Boy.Basically a cute get together fic that happens mostly in the Starbucks.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 204





	You are... gay?

Keith is a loner. It’s always been like this, he is just incapable of making friends, let alone anything more. He doesn’t do well socially, it’s probably in his genes. He doesn’t really care, anymore. This is why he sits alone at a Starbucks every week, drawing and staring pathetically at a really, _really_ , hot boy.

He wants to talk to Hot Boy – as he had nicknamed him in his head – but he just can’t. What would he even say? Hi? He can’t _do_ that.

By now Keith has memorized Hot Boy’s schedule, every Wednesday at nine a.m. he orders a latte and stays for exactly half an hour. On Fridays he comes in at ten instead but orders the same and stays for half an hour again, although he comes back at four, usually with a friend or two, and then orders a Frappuccino or a hot chocolate. So obviously Keith is at Starbucks every Wednesday and Friday – Fridays only at four though, because he has a class at ten – to stare, drool and draw, or occasionally study.

And he is always alone. He tells himself this is the reason Hot Boy doesn’t talk to him, because he looks like he wants to be alone. Not because he’s a freak and Hot Boy doesn’t notice him, nope, it’s definitely the first. His earbuds make him unapproachable.

Today is no different, it’s a Friday afternoon so Keith has some more time with Hot Boy. Fridays are the days that Keith draws him, specifically. He has more time then.

Today Hot Boy is posed with his head thrown back and a smile on his face, he and his friends laugh a lot together. It’s Keith's favourite way of drawing Hot Boy, when he’s laughing. He looks so carefree and genuinely happy; Keith's heart always skips a beat. He can only imagine having such a smile pointed at him.

He’s just working on the details of Hot Boys crows’ feet when he sees movement in the corner of his eye. _Oh, he’s getting up. ‘Nother drink probably, seeing as his friends are still there. Damn, his ass looks good in those jeans._ Secretly Keith stores away this mental image to draw at home, more privately.

Instead of going back to his drawing, which is halfway done, Keith keeps staring. When Hot Boy is ordering a drink, he’s usually so preoccupied with getting it that he doesn’t notice anything else. Once this guy two places down in line threw up, very dramatically, all over the ground and into a passing girls cup – with that, on her. It was a whole spectacle, the girl got seething mad and the boy got super red in the face, people were crowding around them whilst the girl just kept laying into him with her words, the manager even had to come interfere. Eventually the boy passed out and had to be taken to the hospital by an ambulance. All the while Hot Boy kept calmly reading the menu, and ordering his drink, only once he had turned around and saw the mess, he noticed. He blushed furiously; it was adorable.

To be honest Hot Boy often doesn’t notice when things are happening around him. Keith doesn’t blame him, though. He too would be super preoccupied with himself if he looked the way Hot Boy does.

Being lost in his thoughts, Keith doesn’t notice that Hot Boy has finished ordering his drink. And he’s turned around to face Keith. And fuck, now he’s seen Keith, _staring._

_Oh, now he’s coming over, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Be cool, Keith, be cool._

“Hi uh, what’s your name.” The Hot Boy says with a charming smile on his face. His speech is a bit garbled, but it’s cute.

Keith makes a panicked noise. “Gay....” _What!_ He has got to leave before The Hot Boy sees how red his face has become and calls an ambulance. He’s already focussing on him way too much for Keith's comfort.

“You are... gay?” Hot Boy looks amused, not about to walk off. _Thank god._

“No! Well, yes. But, no! It’s not what I mean. See I am gay in the sense that I like boys. Yeah boys only. I’m only interested in that dick, you know good and hard dick. I’ll do anything for the dick. Shit, I mean, I’m not a whore. I was just trying to make clear that I’m gay, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m not coming on to you, it’s fine if you’re straight. You don’t have to be though, of course you could be like uhh, bi or pan or ace or demi. What else is there? I know there’s something else, well you can’t be a lesbian.” Hot Boy cuts him off before he can further embarrass himself.

“My _name_ is Lance.” He puts an emphasis on the word name, probably to tease, but Keith appreciates it. He nods at Hot Boy, or more commonly known as Lance, and sticks out his hand to shake his. After a few minutes of awkward eye contact and not knowing when to let go of each other’s hands, Hot Boy, no Lance, clears his throat, “and you?”

“Oh right, Keith. Is my name. It’s Keith. My name is Keith. _Damn it_.” he whispers the last bit to himself but it’s obvious Hot Boy understood it because his smile gets unmistakably wider.

Lance takes the pencil Keith has been fiddling with from his hands and leans over Keith’s shoulder. In the middle of Keith’s sketchbook, he jots down a number and puts a big heart around it. Into Keith’s ear he whispers, “call me.” And then Hot Boy is gone.

Keith is having a minor heart attack. He really should be annoyed that Hot Boy wrote something in the middle of his drawing, effectively ruining it. It’s just very difficult when he can still feel Hot Boy’s breath on his ear and his presence over his shoulder.

Dreamily Keith continues drawing anyway, avoiding the number at all costs.

Fuck.

Keith was drawing Hot Boy, and now Hot Boy has _seen_ that.

Fuck.

***

Keith was half an hour too early today. He has a class at ten a.m. and wanted to get some extra prep in before helplessly staring at Hot Boy. No Lance, he has engrained Hot Boy into his mind.

Lance comes in at nine a.m. on the dot, just like every Wednesday. He sits down with a book for about ten minutes before getting up to order. When he’s in line his eyes find Keith's and he smiles at him, waiting for his drink.

Hot Boy – Lance – starts walking over to his table, two drinks in hand. “Hey, Gay,” he says, putting both cups down, one in front of Keith.

Keith splutters something, but when words don’t form, he just laughs politely at Lance.

“I got you a coffee, black. I hope that’s okay.” His speech is a bit more strained today than Friday and he keeps starting with hand gestures but suppressing them halfway through. Lance smiles through it anyway.

“Oh yeah, that’s fine. I usually drink my coffee black. I’ve always thought any other way was just fake coffee. Not that you drink fake coffee!” Keith starts rambling faster, “I just don’t like it with a lot of additives. Its so sweet. I mean why not just get a caffeinated milkshake then, that’s basically what that is, isn’t it? But if you like it that way — you know it would go great with a muffin. Do you want a muffin? I think I’m gonna go get us two muffins? You want a muffin?” Keith looks at Lance with terror and panic. He talks _way_ too much.

Lance looks at him with a shy, apologetic smile. He reaches over and takes Keith's notebook and pencil from him. After he’s done writing he passes it back to Keith.

_‘I’m deaf. Could you talk slower, please? I can’t read your lips otherwise. You looked super cute though.’_ He had added a little smiley face behind it.

Keith turns crimson. Fuck, he had been wondering why he was staring so intensely at his lips. He feels so dumb now.

Keith starts to write back. ‘ _I’m so so sorry.’_ He slides the notebook back to Lance and thinks for a bit. Once he’s sure he has Lance’s attention he signs, “ _My name is K-E-I-T-H.”_

Lance’s face lights up at this. Immediately he starts to do some rapid hand gestures that Keith doesn’t understand at all. Keith quickly slides his notebook back and starts to write again.

_‘Sorry I don’t know much sign language. This boy I lived with for a year was deaf, so I picked up a few things.’_

Once lance has read his note, he smiles at Keith again, less excited however, and starts to talk. “No worries just speak slowly. I can teach you. So anyway, you never called me.”

_Fuck._ Keith chuckles a little nervously, “yeah, sorry. I’ve been busy? I— uh, I will though, I promise.” he enunciates.

“You better,” Lance teases. “So, what’re you doing?” He signs as he speaks now.

“Astronomy homework.”

“Oh, that’s so cool! I love space! I want to go when I’m older. Oh, did you know that there’s no sound in space? Like it doesn’t travel so you can’t hear anything. That way I’m never going to be the weird deaf one, because everyone is technically deaf in space.”

Keith might be in love and he’s only talked to this guy twice. He’s so cute though. “That’s honestly the best thing I’ve ever heard about space.” He knew this, duh, he’s an astronomy major. But now it’s his favourite factoid.

Lance´s face lights up like a lightbulb. “So, what do you want to do after uni? With astronomy and all that.”

“Uhm, I think I’d like to be a fighter pilot or something or fly a rocket maybe.”

“Awesome.” Lance says in awe. He looks at his watch and looks back at Keith, “I’m sorry, I have a class soon. I’ve got to go. But uhm, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab a drink with me on Friday? At four?”

“Yes, I’d love to. I mean, sure yeah, that’d be cool. Awesome. Super. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It’s a date, I mean like a date to be somewhere, in my agenda. Uh yeah, bye,” Keith smiles awkwardly as Lance gets up. He waves at Keith as he leaves. Keith waves back and throws up what he thinks is the rock and roll sign for good measure, his thumb, pointer finger and little finger pointed up.

“Bye, Gay!” Lance calls, a bit red in the face.

_Thank fuck that I didn’t royally mess that up._

***

Keith stills as he hears Shiro enter. He'd been talking to Adam, but he knows that the moment Shiro hears he's here, he'll give him the third degree about Hot Boy. There are still two rooms between him and Shiro; the hallway and the kitchen. Keith thinks that if he's quiet, and Adam works with him, he will make it out of there alive.

Adam is not on his side though. “Great! We're in here, honey! You're just in time to hear Keith tell us all about his day.”

“Adam!” Keith yells indignantly, still mid sneaking away.

Shiro enters, “Did something happen today?”

“No—”

“He came home a blushing mess, obviously Hot Boy talked to him today!” Adam adds a girly shriek for good measure. "I was waiting for you to come home before questioning him.”

Shiro gives him a knowing look. The one that says, ‘Ah yes, I am the all-knowing wise father, I saw this coming.’ Then he turns to Keith and gestures with his hand for him to start talking.

“There's nothing to tell—”

“Yes, there is,” Shiro cuts in.

“We're meeting on Friday, that's all.”

Adam let's out his second girly shriek of the evening, earning him two very unamused looks. “What? I'm excited. Anyway, keep talking, how did it happen? Go on, go on.”

“Uhm we were just at the Starbucks and happened to run into each other—”

“You mean you were stalking him.” Adam interrupts.

“And it started with eye contact and then he'd gotten a drink and he came over and he said, ‘hey gay’ and then we started talking and he asked if I could meet him on Friday.”

“Wait, what? Why did he call you gay?” Shiro looks confused, and a bit disgruntled.

“Oh, right uhm we also talked on Friday, he uh…. He asked me my name and I panicked, and I mean he’s so pretty, so Isaidgay?” There was a silence before a burst of laughter erupted from Adam, followed by some chuckles from Shiro. “Stop laughing this is a serious matter! I’ve told him my name twice, spelled it out once, and I don’t think he’s ever gonna stop calling me gay!”

“Hold on, why did you spell out your name for him?” Shiro asked between chuckles.

“Yeah, what kind of conversation…?” Adam adds.

“Like in sign language… Did I not mention he’s deaf?” Keith wonders innocently.

“What the hell, Keith! This is a vital piece of information!” Adam pretty much jumps up out of indignance.

“I just didn’t think it was that important.”

“Listen, what if we meet him, right? And then I wanna be the cool father in law, you know das how Adam do, so I whisper a funny inside joke in his ear and then I find out he’s deaf! Das not how Adam do, Keith! Not. How. Adam. Do!”

“Calm down, honey, Keith didn’t mean to make you ‘not do how Adam do’.” Shiro says, supressing a chortle.

Between breaths, Keith manages to wheeze out, “not how Adam what?!” and then he’s back to laughing.

“Go to your room, Keith!” Adam yells indignantly, blushing at his own actions.

“What? I’m nineteen.” Keith laughs, getting up to leave anyway.

“And think about what you’ve done!”

Keith leaves with a loud laugh and a sarcastic “okay”, and heads up to his room.

*

In his room, Keith flops down on his bed and takes out his phone and his sketchbook. He flips to the page with Lance's number in it and starts copying it into his phone. But before actually texting lance, he has to find the courage.

A little bit later (when he's found his courage) he texts lance.

**Keith:**

Hey 

This is Keith

From Starbucks 

**Lance:**

gay! 

i was wondring when youd text me

whatre u doing? 

**Keith:**

Nothing much

You? 

**Lance:**

same 

nm apparently im havigndinner

ttyl? 

**Keith:**

Sure 

**Lance:**

bye gay! 

***

It was four p.m. that Friday and Keith was there on the dot (he was half an hour early, but Lance didn’t need to know that). It was their first date and Keith wanted to be prepared. He’d had an early day today, so he spent at least an hour in his room beforehand painstakingly examining every bit of clothing he owns. And another half hour teaching himself to say Lance instead of Hot Boy.

He spent another ten minutes drawing. It was an engraving he’s designing for Shiro and Adams anniversary, they had always wanted to engrave their rings but never really got to it. He had just finished the details for the ‘m’ when Lance walked over to his table. He lent beside Keith and looked at his drawing while Keith finished the ‘s’.

“Looks good,” Lance compliments, “finished your other drawing then?”

Keith looks up in confusion, “Which drawing?”

“Mine.”

“Oh right,” Keith looks away, “it’s pretty much done.”

“Can I see?”

Keith carefully looks through his sketchbook to find the drawing of Lance with a number on it. He really doesn’t want to embarrass himself further by accidentally showing one of the many other drawings he has made of Lance. Once he finds it, he slides it over a bit to where Lance is still standing. “It’s not completely done; some details need refining and your mouth is all wrong.”

Lance takes the book to inspect the drawing more closely. When he’s done, he smiles at Keith, “I love it, will you draw something for me once?”

“Uh sure. Just tell me what u want,” Keith says blushing a bit. “Do you want to sit down?”

“Uhm actually we’re sitting just over there,” Lance points to a table in the corner occupied by two other people, “join us?”

_Oh,_ Keith thinks. This was not what he had expected. He covers up his disappointment with a smile. “Sure, let’s go.” He packs up his things and follows Lance to his table.

“Keith, this is Pidge,” he points to a small person with glasses, “and this is Hunk,” then he points to a big friendly looking guy. “Guys, this is Keith, more informally known as Gay”

Keith groans, “Please ignore that.”

“Hi. Don’t worry, Lance has already told the story.” Hunk says in a friendly tone.

“That really doesn’t make it any better,” Keith mutters.

With a more serious look on his face, Hunk signs something at Lance.

“Yes, Hunk,” Lance answers forcefully. “But Keith here doesn’t know any sign, so let’s not be rude, shall we?”

“Right, sorry Keith,” Hunk smiles, “I’ll go get coffees then.”

“So, Keith,” Pidge begins.

“Pidge, please don’t.”

“Do aliens exist? Yes or no,” They continue, paying Lance no mind.

“Uh, duh? Like ethically it’s just arrogant to think we are the only intelligent species out there. There are around a million stars in each star system and another million star systems out there. There’s no chance that there are no alien life forms. And that’s just beside the fact that there’s all sorts of evidence to support that aliens exist. I mean, don’t even get me started on area 51.” Keith trails off noticing that he is, as Adam calls it, nerding out.

“Lance,” Pidge says very seriously, “I approve.”

“Oh, good,” Lance replies sarcastically. “So, why can’t we get you started on area 51?”

“Well, it’s so obvious that the government is hiding evidence supporting dozens of theories in there. I mean, aliens yeah sure, but have you thought about bigfoot? _Mothman?_ It’s so obvious. Why else would it be such a secret? Besides, if you look up area 51, Wikipedia says it’s an airport. It’s obviously a cover up for space exploration missions, _where_ they then find aliens.”

“Thank fucking God, finally someone who sees the truth. Lance and Hunk don’t believe me.”

Keith’s eyes go wide at Pidge’s statement. “How can you not,” Keith exclaims turning to Lance.

Lance puts his hands up in defence, he has a twinkle in his eye that says he’s laughing. But lance doesn’t make a sound.

Pidge ignores this and keeps talking excitedly. “Have you heard about what the military does with alien aircraft remains? They store the remains of the spacecraft in area 51 and reverse engineer them to make highly advanced weapons systems. I’ve actually talked to people online who saw UFOs near the area.”

Hunk arrives at the table in time to hear Pidge’s last sentence. He sets down four coffees and gets comfortable in his chair before turning to Lance, “Dude, I thought we don’t let them talk about aliens with strangers anymore, what are you doing? They’ll scare off Keith.” Hunk squeaks as pidge kicks him from under the table.

“Contrary to _some people_ , Keith actually sees the truth. I am able to have an actual intellectual conversation with him. And Lance brought up area 51!”

“So, Keith, what do you do?” Lance says forcefully, to interrupt Pidge’s indignant rambles.

Keith laughs at their antics. “I uhm, I’m an astronomy major, but I already told you that. And I work part time at a bookstore.”

“Oh, that bookstore just up the street? I love it there! How come I’ve never seen you there before?” Hunk asks.

“I mostly just try to keep out of peoples way when I restock and otherwise, I’m sorting books in the back.” Keith then adds, “what do you guys do?”

“I study robotics and Hunk is a baker.” Pidge answers.

“And you Lance?”

Lance turns a bit red, “I’m still in school to become a preschool teacher.”

“Oh, that’s so cool, you like kids then.” Keith says, his body now fully turned towards Lance.

“Uh yeah. I have three younger siblings and like 10 nieces and nephews, so I’ve spent my fair share of time with kids. I have so much fun with them.” Lance smiles at Keith.

While Keith and lance emerge themselves into their own conversation, Pidge turns to Hunk. “I can see what’s happening.”

“What?” Hunk asks in confusion.

“And they don’t have a clue,” Pidge continues.

“Who?” Hunk is starting to catch on.

“They’ll fall in love and here’s the bottom line,” Pidge prompts.

“Our trio’s down to two!” Hunk sings dramatically.

“What is happening?” Keith mouths to Lance now that they’ve been interrupted by Hunk’s singing.

“It’s from the Lion King, we just gotta let it happen. No stopping it now.” Lance whispers back.

“The [sweet](https://www.definitions.net/definition/sweet) caress of twilight,” Pidge continues.

“There's [magic](https://www.definitions.net/definition/magic) everywhere.” – Hunk.

“And with all this [romantic](https://www.definitions.net/definition/romantic) atmosphere.” – Pidge.

“Disaster's in the air.” – Hunk.

They look at Lance and Keith expectantly, to continue the song. But when they make no attempt to carry on, Pidge jumps to the end. “And if he [falls](https://www.definitions.net/definition/falls) in love tonight, it can be assumed.”

“His [carefree](https://www.definitions.net/definition/carefree) days with us are history.” By now Hunk is fully acting his words.

“In short, our pal is doomed.” They both sing this in horribly shrill falsettos, causing everyone in the vicinity to cringe and cover their ears.

“Does—does this happen often?” Keith looks petrified.

Lance nods solemnly, “It’s moments like these, Keith, when I realise how happy I am to be deaf.”

Keith laughs when both Pidge and Hunk cry out in outrage.

***

“Oh god shiro, I am falling. I am falling so hard and it’s so unfair.”

“Tell me again what happened,” Shiro said thoughtfully.

“Hey, have you been talking about Keith's love life without me?” Adam comes into the living room looking hurt. “I always wait for you Shiro. Come here, tell uncle Adam what’s wrong,” he pats his lap.

Keith stares at Adam emptily without moving. Then he continues as if Adam never said anything, “Okay, so, Wednesday he asks me to grab a drink with him on Friday at four. Then I’m there on Friday at four, he comes up to me and we start talking, it’s a good start and then he asks me to join him and his friends. On what I thought was a date.”

“Wah wah waaaha,” Adam sing songs.

“Well it is possible you just misunderstood,” Shiro reasons.

“But it sounded so datey, you know. He asked me about school and things, and he wanted me to have called him. How could I have not thought it was a date?”

“Could have been a double date.” Adam says.

“No way, Pidge was like fourteen.”

“Well we shouldn’t judge others on their kinks, Keith.”

Shiro hits Adam over the head, “Don’t be crude, babe. Keith, it’ll be fine. Just call and ask him out.”

“Yeah, no.”

“Auwh come on Keithy-boy. Just hurry it up. I want to meet my son-in-law already. I’ve been waiting for this for months, Keith. Months! Ever since you first came home all starry eyed!” Adam begs.

Shiro mockingly cradles Adam, pushing his head into his chest. He gestures at Keith to run while he has the chance, all the while soothing Adam. So, Keith makes haste out of there and heads up to his room.

“No, wait! I’m not done with you Keith! This isn’t over!” Adam tries to struggle out of Shiro’s grasp to no avail. He eventually settles down and watches tv, tuning out Keith and Shiro’s laughter.

***

“Hey, can I just, say something crazy?” Lance asks, slipping into the seat opposite Keith at the Starbucks.

“Uhm, sure?” Keith looks at Lance sceptically.

Lance just grins at him wickedly, “all my life has been a series of doors in my face.”

“What does that even mean?”

“And then suddenly I bump into you.”

“I don’t understand this, but I think I was thinking the same thing, maybe?” Keith looks questioningly at Lance, signing the words he does know.

“I’ve been searching my whole life to find my own place and maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue,” Lance just keeps grinning evilly.

“What’s that got to do with this?”

“But with you,”

“Lance?”

  
“I found my place, I see your face and it's nothing like I've ever known before!”

“Auwh?”

  
“Love is an open door! With you. With you! With _you_!”

“Wait, what!? What are you trying to say, Lance?” Keith's face is bright red by now.

Lance bursts out laughing, signing a few things that Keith doesn’t understand. Keith has to tap him five times to get him to open his eyes so Keith can talk to him.

“ _Your face, I can’t,”_ Lance signs, still unable to get words out.

Keith flips him off. “Seriously, Lance. Explain.”

“Have you never seen Frozen or something?” Lance is _still_ laughing. _Fucking asshole, laughing at my fragile heart._

“Isn’t he the guy from The Incredibles?”

“No—what?! That’s Frozone. Have you no culture? _Frozen._ Anna and Elsa, sisters, best friends, torn apart by magic. An epic tale about ones love for its family and kingdom. Come _on,_ its Disney!” Lance, for his part, looks utterly confounded.

“Oh, I haven’t seen Disney,” Keith says easily

“Disney isn’t a— what? Like no Disney? Ever?” Keith shakes his head at Lances incredulous outburst. “Okay, next chance we get, you and I are binging ‘Disney’” Lance puts air quotes around the word instead of signing it. “So anyway, I was quoting a song from Frozen, it’s called Love is an open door.”

“Oh, it was a song.” Keith says, trying not to sound too disappointed. He may have thought Lance was implying some _other_ things.

“Yeah, what did you think it was?”

“Uhm nothing, not a song though, didn’t expect that.” Keith still looks red, whilst Lance is looking super amused.

“Oh my god, ableism! Is it because I’m deaf? Keith you wound me!” Lance laughs.

“Excuse me for thinking _deaf_ people wouldn’t know songs, let alone quote them! You don’t hear!” Keith shouts.

“And yet, I still know you’re shouting. You know, for this I’m only going to speak to you in sign. It’s what you deserve!” Lance says and then starts signing. “ _Hey, remember that second time we talked, you accidentally told me you loved me, that got me starry eyed for a week. This is fun, I can see the confusion on your face. Hey Keith, your eyes are pretty.”_

“Stop laughing! I literally got ‘Hey two me a week. Fun. Keith.’ from that. That’s not fair.”

“ _Whoops sorry, got to go. Have a class.”_ Lance signed, he tapped his watch and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to be clear. Then he got up and left, not before sending Keith a wink though.

Keith was left melted in his seat.

***

Keith and Lance had been texting and had decided to meet up on Saturday to watch Disney movies. Lance had sent his address and Keith was just about to get on his bike to leave when Adam ran outside.

“Wait, Keith! I packed you something very important to take to Hot Boys place. To be safe,” Adam hands Keith a brown paper bag with an evil grin on his face.

“His name is Lance,” Keith says absentmindedly. He opens the bag and looks at what’s inside, he gasps and quickly throws the bag back at Adam. “Oh my god, Adam! We’re not going to fuck! We haven’t even been on a date yet! Are you purposely trying to make this more difficult for me! We don’t need condoms!”

“Don’t yell at me! It was Shiro’s idea!” Adam says it indignantly, but he’s howling with laughter.

“Right. I’m leaving. Bye,” Keith mounts his bike and takes off.

*

Nervously, Keith rings the doorbell, wobbling from one foot to the other. He sees a bunch of light flashes at the other side of the door and then hears more than one pair of footsteps rush to the door.

“Hi,” Lance greets him while pushing two smaller children out of the way. “Don’t mind them, come in.”

Keith stops to take off his shoes and jacket at the door and then follows Lance. He leads him to the back of the house and down a set of stairs to the basement. He shuts the door and takes place on the couch gesturing for Keith to join him.

“I’ve put out all the best; Tangled, Belle and The Beast, Finding Dory, The Lion King, Mulan, Brave, Big Hero 6 and of course Frozen. You’re not leaving here until you’ve watched at least all of these.” Lance gestures excitedly at the stack of DVDs in front of them.

“Uhm, before we start, I was uh wondering,” Keith stammers, carefully sitting down next to Lance. “Just uhm, is—, are—, maybe we—,” never mind, he can’t ask this, divert, divert. “How does this movie thing work, with you being deaf and all that?”

“Oh, mostly subtitles, some of the movies have interpreters at the bottom corner for me. But those are hard to come by.” Lance grabbed a movie from the stack, “I thought we’d start with Tangled and work our way down.” He gets up and puts the movie into the DVD player.

Keith sits at a safe distance from Lance and quietly watches the movie.

*

Six movies later Keith and Lance are sitting legs intertwined and are heavily debating the state of Merida’s sexuality, or lack thereof.

“No listen, it makes sense! She didn’t want to marry anyone, she competed for her own hand—”

“She just wanted to show her independence, that doesn’t make her aro. If anything, she’s a lesbian!” Lance interrupts heatedly.

“Ughhhh, we’ve gone over this Lance!” Keith puts his hands over Lance’s to stop him from interrupting or mocking him in sign. He articulates, “She doesn’t show any interest nor attraction to either gender, it doesn’t add up!”

Lance gets up to put in Big Hero 6. He sits down and takes Keith's hands again. “You’re too stubborn to argue with,” he says fondly.

Keith blushes.

*

Now that they had finished both Big Hero 6 and Frozen too, they sat on the couch idly chatting. It was far into the night by now and they’d not even gotten tired yet.

“I think my favourite was Big Hero 6. Tadashi reminds me of Shiro so much, their names are even similar. Tadashi, Takashi.” Keith was playing with Lance’s fingers, not really minding what he said.

“Who’s Shiro?”

“Oh, he’s like my brother or my dad or my best friend.” Keith said easily.

“That’s a lot of roles he plays in your life.” Lance laughs, “tell me more?”

Keith chuckles, a little uneasily this time. “Wow we’re about to go in deep, lol. My parents died in a fire when I was young, maybe one or two years old. I uh, I’ve been in foster care ever since, that’s how I learnt some sign language. The family I lived with when I was nine had a deaf son. Anyway, I lived with Shiro’s parents when I was 13 and Shiro was like my mentor or my best friend. I was put back into a home after a year with them and then when Shiro turned 24 he married Adam, I was 17 at the time. So, they took me in. Yeah that’s my story, hah.”

“Oh, wow.” Lance squeezes Keith's hand, “So, do you still live with them?”

“Yep, they’re my home. Even though they are fucknut crazy.”

Lance snorts, “Did I read that wrong, or did u just say fucknut?”

“Shut up!” Keith yells heatedly, but he’s smiling anyway.

*

“So, to sum up: you think Merida, Elsa, Le Fou and Shang Li are all lgbtq?” Lance laughs.

“And that’s just from the first watch, I think if I re-watch all of them I’ll find more. Besides these aren’t even all the movies, right?” Keith and Lance are facing each other completely by now.

“Oh, a man on a mission, I like it.” Lance winks causing Keith to blush profoundly. “Do you think everyone is gay?”

“No! But, I mean, one can hope.” Keith jokes.

“Sure, Gay.”

“Oh God, will you ever let that go?” Keith puts his head in his hands, effectively hiding his blushing face from Lance.

Lance pries Keith's fingers from his face, mostly to make sure he doesn’t miss anything Keith says, but partly to see his cute blush. “No, I will not. You introduced yourself to me as Gay. How am I supposed to take that?”

“As a compliment, I would say.”

Lance’s eyes light up and he leans in, “Oh yeah? Tell me, what sort of compliment is that then?”

Keith stammers, “Uh just that I thought you were pretty, and it made me remember how gay I really am?”

“You think I’m pretty?” Lance’s eyes are still shining brightly and he’s leaning forward even more. When Keith doesn’t answer Lance continues, “Well, I think you’re pretty.”

Keith's eyes blow wide open in realisation, “Is this – is this flirting?”

“Ah, you finally noticed,” is all Lance says, before diving in and pressing his lips to Keith's.

It takes Keith a moment, but once his brain and body have caught up, he immediately immerses himself into the kiss. He feels weird kissing Lance, he’s only known this boy for a few weeks. He was head over heals for him the moment he saw Lance that first Wednesday morning at the Starbucks. And now this guy that he’s been mildly stalking for months is actually kissing him, and it’s _fantastic_. It’s weird yes, but it’s a good weird. It’s the kind of weird that he hopes will repeat itself at least a million more times.

Lance pulls back after a while with a blinding smile on his face. Keith smiles back shyly. They sit there looking at each other for a while until Keith interrupts the silence, “You owe me a story.”

“Mhmm? What kind of story?”

“Like about your life. Unless you don’t want to of course.”

“When I was six, I got meningitis, that’s basically how I lost my hearing. It’s not that special. My parents through themselves into it after I became deaf. They hired a private tutor for me and all my siblings, and themselves, to teach us sign language. They were great. I kept talking though, to make it easier on my family and I learnt to read lips because I didn’t want to get left out at school. That was dumb, I know, but I appreciate that I can still talk to strangers. Like you,” Lance winks to lighten the mood.

“Oh well, I’m happy it worked out fine.” Keith said because he honestly didn’t know what else to say.

Lance let out a quiet laugh, “Yeah.” A comfortable silence fell.

After a while Keith asked, “Teach me some sign?”

Lance lit up like a Christmas tree. Slowly he starts signing so Keith can follow it. Then he says what he signs: “What is your favourite animal?”

“Hippo,” Keith answers. Lance snorts but continues. He gestures for Keith to follow his movements. Lance makes an Y shape with both hands and puts them palm up on top of each other. Then he moves them up and down to mimic a hippo’s jaw.

“Mine is shark.” Lance says and then signs the word for shark.

Keith copies Lance’s movements a few times and when he’s sure he’s got it says, “Next.”

Lance makes a contemplative sound, then says “fuck,” and signs the word. He waits for Keith to copy (first Keith has to stop laughing) and then moves onto bitch. Lance also shows him bullshit, dick and asshole.

Next Lance grabs Keith’s hands and moulds them into shapes. First, he slightly bends Keith's flat hand and puts it at his upper chest area, Keith then is made to smooth his hand down the length of his torso. After, lance makes a sort of claw with Keith's hand and puts it at his chin, then Lance rotates it outwards so his hand ends facing away from his body.

Keith repeats these gestures a few times. “So, what am I saying?”

Lance smiles evilly, “I am hot.”

Keith once again turns crimson; he tries to cover it up by coughing into his hand. “Okay, next!” he squeaks.

“Question mark.” Lance says, then does the sign.

Keith follows and waits for the next instruction.

Lance holds his four fingers together and touches his mouth, then his cheekbone with them. He then points to his chest with his index finger and follows that up with the sign for a question mark.

“What does that mean?” Keith says sceptically, having learnt from his mistakes.

“Kiss me?” Lance says.

So, Keith does.

*

A few hours later Keith wakes up in Lance’s arms from an annoying but consistent ringing sound. He ruffled around his things looking for the hellish device that interrupted the best sleep he’s ever had and found his phone flashing Adam’s name. He looked at lance, who was still sleeping like a baby, and turned his back to him, so as not to disrupt him.

“Keith you’ve been gone for nearly a week! Where have you been? Are you pregnant? Is that it? I knew we should have forced the condoms on you! Shiro –”

“Oh my god, Adam, shut up!” Keith whisper yelled into the phone.

“What are you scared your _deaf_ boyfriend is gonna hear what I say over the phone?” Keith mentally slaps himself for forgetting that Lance is deaf but didn’t reply. “We were about to call the cops, Keith? Do you hear me, Keith?! The cops!”

“You say I’ve been gone for a week and you only just now decided to call the cops?” Keith drawled.

“Oh, shush, you snarky boy. You’ve been there for at least 24 hours, we want our child back.”

“Well yes, we were gonna binge Disney, you know. It takes some time.”

“So does making out.” Adam adds. “Now, your dad and I were wondering if you would be home for dinner?”

Keith shakes his head at Adam’s antics. “Yes, _dad,_ I’ll be there within half an hour.”

“So long my child!” Adam calls into the phone dramatically and then abruptly hangs up.

Keith puts down his phone and looks at lance. He almost doesn’t want to wake him up, he looks so peaceful. He should say goodbye though, right? Carefully, Keith fully extracts himself from Lance and gathers his things.

Once he has everything, he shakes lance softly to get him to wake. As soon as he sees Lance’s eyes open, he starts to talk, “Hey I have to get home. I had a lot of fun, thank you Lance.”

Lance mumbles something incoherent in response and Keith smiles. He kisses his cheek and gets up to leave, Lance has already fallen back into a coma anyway. 

***

“Hi.”

“Hey.” Keith takes out an earbud and looks over to his right to see Lance walking next to him. He was on his way home from a class and his bike was in the shop, so he was walking. And now Lance was here, walking besides him. Right after they kissed. Oh God, what is he going to do?

“I missed you leaving the other day,” Lance smiles.

“Oh yeah, I tried to say goodbye, but you were pretty out of it.”

“Did you have fun? You know, with me,” Lance looks at him nervously. 

“Oh yeah, it was super. Disney is fun. Maybe we could do it again some other time?”

Lance lights up, “Yes, we could! We can do High School Musical next time!”

“High School what? Why would you want to make a musical out of the worst part of life?” Keith’s confusion is showing clearly on his face.

Lance shakes his head, “You have a lot to learn young padawan.”

“Star Wars! That’s something I know!” Keith excitedly turns to fully face Lance, “How much did you love that one scene where—”

“I have never in my life seen Star Wars, I’m so sorry,” Lance apologises profusely, but you can see the amusement in his eyes. “We can watch those together some time too, yeah?”

Keith nods and smiles at Lance.

“So where are you heading?” Lance asks.

“Just home, you?”

“Yeah me too. Can I walk you home?”

Keith smiles, “As long as you promise not to come in.” At Lance’s slightly hurt face, Keith hastily adds, “No, not like that. Shiro and Adam are really weird, and very into meeting you.”

Lance laughs heartily, “I wouldn’t mind meeting them.”

“No, you would. Trust me. When I came over to your house, they tried to get me to bring condoms. Adam can be a bit overdramatic. He was scared I was going to get pregnant.”

“Does he understand how the male anatomy works?”

“That’s something I question almost daily.” Keith nods solemnly.

They continue to idly chat all the way to Keith's house. When they’re finally there, Lance, as promised, doesn’t come in. They awkwardly say goodbye at the door, both of them wanting to lean in for a kiss, but neither daring to.

Keith closes the door behind him and leans against it. Damn, he’s so in love with this guy.

***

It’s a Friday afternoon and Keith is waiting at Lance’s usual table ten minutes before four – when Lance normally arrives with Pidge and Hunk. He’s been practicing in the mirror for a week and he’s sure he can at least hold a generic conversation in sign. Today he’ll be testing that theory.

He had already gotten four coffees for them and is now nervously fidgeting in his seat. He would draw to take the edge off, but he doesn’t want to run the risk of any of them seeing what he’s working on right now. It’s a drawing of him and Lance hugging, it could be platonic, but people will definitely know that’s not what Keith means by it. He wants to give it to Lance if all turns out fine.

He goes over the signs he knows once again, covertly doing them in his lap.

Now that he’s done that another five times, he stares intensely at the door, willing Lance to just come in already. The doors open and Keith jumps up in shock. Did that actually just work?

Lance spots Keith almost immediately and walks over with a big smile, completely forgetting about Pidge and Hunk behind him. “Hi,” he says, sitting down in front of Keith.

Keith smiles nervously and brings his hands over the table. “ _Hi, how are you?”_ he signs slowly.

Lance’s eyes go wide and his smile gets even bigger. “ _I’m doing great now that you’re here. And you?”_ Lance signs equally slowly but talks at the same time to be sure that Keith will understand.

“ _I’m doing fine. I wanted to ask you something.”_ Keith is still signing.

“ _Go ahead.”_

Keith looks at Lance anxiously, then at Pidge and Hunk who have since joined them and are watching the conversation with amusement and fondness. Keith looks back at Lance, who smiles encouragingly, and starts to move his hands, _“Be my boyfriend?”_

Lance lights up, Keith honestly thought that it wouldn’t be possible anymore, but it happened. He leans over the table, nearly spilling four coffees (thank Pidge for their quick reflexes), and presses his lips to Keith’s, nodding while doing so.

When they pull back, they’re both sporting the smuggest grins.

They can’t keep their eyes off each other for the whole afternoon and in true spirit, that’s how they spend the rest of their lives.

***

**Author's Note:**

> Everything Disney in this is the direct result of me listening to a Disney playlist on YouTube whilst writing this


End file.
